Gas Station Employee Charged with Lottery Fraud

A gas station worker accused of scratching lottery tickets and putting losing entries back for customers to purchase has appeared in court. Kelsee Adams, who was employed at the Twin Stop Chevron in Addison Avenue West in Idaho, has been charged with lottery fraud after police estimated that she had stolen $850 in tickets.

According to court documents, Adams scratched a small part of about 30 Idaho Lottery tickets to catch a glimpse of a four-digit number, and would then scan the number to see if it would be worth anything. The entries that did not win would be placed back for unsuspecting players coming in to the store.

Suspicion was aroused when one customer brought a winning ticket in to be scanned and a message was displayed that read ‘paid previously by you’. The district manager was then called in when a worker found nine tickets which showed signs of being scratched, and the daily reports were scrutinised.

Workers at the petrol station have to record the number whenever a ticket is sold and, according to court documents, the reports showed Adams to be the culprit. Police said that there was also security footage of Adams scratching the tickets and returning the losing ones. She will now face a preliminary court hearing on 4th September.